International Electrotechnical Commission Test Methods Now Cover Plug-and-Play Solar Home System Kits up to 350 Watts

Last week, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) expanded the scope of its technical specification for pico-solar products (up to 10 Watts) to also include plug-and-play solar home system (SHS) kits (up to 350 Watts).
National governments, development agencies, and other institutions can now refer to a single document for test methods suitable for evaluating solar lanterns, multi-point light kits, and SHS kits. This should facilitate a more harmonized approach to the evaluation of off-grid solar products by making it easier for governments to adopt these globally accepted methods. These test methods already serve as the foundation for many quality assurance programs—both voluntary and mandatory—around the world.
The new edition of this document (IEC/TS 62257-9-5:2018) was approved in December 2017 and published on June 13, 2018. This fourth edition builds upon and replaces Lighting Global’s test methods for SHS kits, bringing the evaluation of pico-solar products and SHS kits together under one roof.
The Lighting Global team is supporting test labs to acquire the equipment and know-how necessary to conduct tests according to these revised methods.
To see the changes in edition four and read the full text of IEC/TS 62257-9-5:2018, visit the IEC webstore to purchase.